Parents Of Teen Shot 14 Times By Police Demand To See Autopsy

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — The parents of an 18-year-old boy shot dead by police after he robbed a Bushwick bodega met with the acting Brooklyn district attorney to demand he release their son’s autopsy.

“It’s been almost two months and my family has many questions that have not been answered,” said Antonio Taplanco, the father of Sergio Reyes who police shot 14 times in the heart, lungs, aorta, spinal cord, liver, stomach and bones outside 169 Starr St. on Feb. 19.

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The officers who shot the teenager said Reyes tried to raise a pellet gun — which they suspect he had used to rob nearby Garden Deli at Irving Avenue and Starr Street — moments before they opened fire.

Reyes’ parents first raised questions about their son’s death days after the shooting and have since been waiting for answers they believe they’ll find in the autopsy.

“We don’t know at this point whether it’s a homicide or not,” said Taplanco’s attorney Roger Asmar, after the meeting with the acting DA Monday. “I doubt it was justified to shoot someone 14 times, and an 18-year-old kid.”

Acting DA Eric Gonzalez told Taplanco and Reyes’ mother Patricia Reyes on Monday that his office would receive the complete report on their son’s death later that day and would provide them with more information on Wednesday, their attorney said.

But the district attorney was unable to tell the grieving parents when exactly they could see the report themselves, Asmar said.

Asmar and advocate Jesus Gonzalez, of the nonprofit Churches United For Fair Housing, expressed their concern that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office would try to protect the officers who shot at Reyes from litigation.

“It just continues to raise red flags,” said Gonzalez. “There’s a clear conflict of interest between the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office and the New York Police Department.”

Asmar added, “In my opinion it’s not normal to keep the autopsy report and not release it."

Image via Kathleen Culliton